bkoganbing
If I had to pick a show that had more funny people on it I would be hard pressed to name any other show but the Phil Silvers Show. Not even the great Stanley Kramer comedy for the big screen It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World had a better laugh quotient to the cast than the Phil Silvers Show which ran for five years. Talk about characters this show created so many great characters all under the direction of creator Nat Hiken. One thing about the army it is a great leveler of class. Especially the peace time Cold War army of the Eisenhower years where a draft was in force and all kinds of people got in there. You could never create a show like this today.Phil Silvers on the big screen had a so so career. He was not really suited for it. He played small roles and in small doses he was fine. I wrote a review for the Jean Arthur/John Wayne comedy A Lady Takes A Chance where Silvers played a tour bus driver. His character like Sergeant Ernie Bilko here was 'on' all the time. That does not work in film, I would have killed Silvers before the bus trip was over or I would have had to stand in line to do it.But as Bilko in a half hour format, sergeant in charge of the motor pool at Camp Caldwell and consummate con man Silvers was perfectly within his element. And the regulars, the soldiers under his command and others at the camp were in support of him. Allan Melvin and Harvey Lembeck were his chief aides, both corporals. They're a pair of funny guys themselves. And who could forget Maurice Gosfield as the ultimate schnook Private Doberman, unmercifully conned week after week by the sergeant he was devoted to. Another guy who was conned was Joe E. Ross as Sergeant Ridzik of the mess hall. Food is always a valuable commodity in any con game.Presiding over this was the Fifties most famous slow burn Paul Ford as Colonel Hall, camp commandant. Before he was cast as the colonel, Ford was a good dramatic actor in such things as All The King's Men and Lust For Gold in serious parts. Nat Hiken saw something in Ford, a comic gift like Edgar Kennedy and even after the show ended Ford for the rest of his life was cast in parts to show off his fabulous slow burn technique.People like Dick Van Dyke guest starred here, even Bing Crosby did an episode, he toured with Silvers on USO tours during World War II. Even though Silvers in my opinion never quite reached the heights as he did in this TV series, he leaves a lasting comedy legacy with the Phil Silvers Show. Even though he was the unquestioned star all of his ensemble came in for their share of laughs. It was a great ensemble of classic comedians, rarely duplicated anywhere.
John T. Ryan
With World War II ending just 10 years before, THE PHIL SILVERS SHOW, alias YOU'LL NEVER GET RICH, alias SGT. BILKO found a ready family audience in the young "Boomers" and their Depression/WWII parents.Therefore, we had a nation full of Mothers and Fathers roughly aged mid 30's to late 40's who together with their "Boomer" offspring , found that material relating to the "War" (or the Military in general) and the 1930's seemed to be favourite topics of 1950-60's TV Series. Hence we saw the great successes of shows like COMBAT, NAVY LOG, and THE UNTOUCHABLES.It was during these years that the "Service Comedy" became a staple for the sitcom. This format of being on the inside of the Armed Forces, no doubt has its genealogy traceable back to eras far before any electronic media of TV, Radio or the Movies. Indeed, we can no doubt find the embryonic beginnings of the Service Comedy among the works of Mr. W. Shakespeare and company.As for our own research, we believe the direct Ancestor or "Missing Link" between the Service Comedy Feature Film and the Service TV Sitcom "evolved" over at Hal Roach Studios' "Laugh Factory". "Streamliner" was his name for his approximately 55 minute film. This put them in between feature and a 2 or 3 Reeler (short subject). During his period that Roach Studios gave us t of the World the "Streamliner" Series of Eight SGT. DOUBLEDAY Movies (1941-52). The comedies featured the misadventures of Sgt. Dorian "Dodo" Doubleday (Mr. Tracy) and everybody's Screen Sergeant, Joe Sawyer as Sgt. William Ames. The two made a splendid film comedy team; with their whole often hilarious interplay's being the friction between the two. On the one hand, Sgt. Ames (Mr. Sawyer), was the gruff, self made Army career-man and Blue Collar type. College man, Sgt. Doubleday (Tracy), on the other hand, was the "90 Day Wonder" type. His character was representative of those called-up in 1940's first ever Peace Time Draft in U.S. History. It was guys like this who got promoted from PFC to Corporal and Sergeant on the Fast Track. This of course created animosity with the veteran career men as represented by Sgt. Ames (still Joe Sawyer).So, this brings us to the 1950's and the Golden Age of Television. During this time and up to 1958 and the dawn of Videotape, a series was either on film (regular or Kinescoped) or it was live. And pre-dating BILKO by three months (June '55 to September '55) was Bud Yorkin's THE SOLDIERS on NBC. The Series which was most likely slotted as one of those old Summer Replacement series, a status from which it never would matriculate to the higher level of Regular Series University. (Too bad; as it had shown a sort of adult humor promise. No, Schultz, I didn't mean 'Blue Humor.') So it was after this we were inundated with the likes of McHALE'S NAVY, BROADSIDE (a female version of McHale), ENSIGN O'TOOLE, NO TIME FOR SERGEANTS (Broadway, Movie & TV), GOMER PYLE, U.S.M.C. and even F TROOP. Oh, yeah, by the way, we almost forgot THE PHIL SILVERS' SHOW.SERGEANT BILKO hit the CBS TV Network 1n September of 1955 and remained a staple until 1959. Its main feature was in giving the Army's Enlisted Men, Non Coms and Officers foibles, equal to or far surpassing everyone in Civilian Life. In the fictional Kansas locale of Fort Baxter, the Motor Pool Platoon is run by con-man and old War War II Veteran Master Sergeant Ernest Bilko (Phil Silvers). He runs the motor pool in whatever time he can squeeze-in between hatching whatever get rich schemes that his always grifting little head can conceive.The now middle-aged Ernie Bilko also sees himself as quite a Ladies' Man and many of the weekly episodes involve his on base girlfriend, some visiting beauty or even both.Some of our favourite episodes in volved: a.the Platoon's getting a Chimpanzee through an Army physical, Bilko's being audited by Uncle Sugar and the Sgt.'s getting to see himself as others do vs. what he thinks of himself.Aiding and abetting in this was a great, if somewhat elderly players doing the men of Bilko's Motor Pool Platoon as well as others in the Fort Baxter Command. Starting from the top we have the C.O., Colonel Hall (outstanding Paul Ford), Sergeant Grover (Signal Corps, Jimmy Little*) and Mess Sergeant Rupert Ritzy ( hilarious Joe E. Ross), Cpl. Barbella (Harvey Lembeck), Cpl. Henshaw (Allan Melvin), Pvt.'s Duane Doberman** (Maurice Gosfield), Dino Paparelli (Billy Sands), Pvt. Gander, Cpl. Fender (Herbie Faye) and others. As an example of a truly strange anecdote of the BILKO Show; they were assigned a young Officer by the Army Brass as Technical Adviser. The Captain was asked to do an on-camera appearance as an M.P., which he reprised several more times. The Captain's name was George Kennedy! Ya gotta start somewhere, Schultz! NOTE: * Mr. Nat Hiken had great admiration for the Old Time Vaudeville & Burlesque Comedians. He proved so by casting guys like Jimmy Little and Joe E. Ross (both former Burlesque Comics) in not only the SGT.BILKO Series, but also in CAR 54, WHERE ARE YOU? NOTE: ** In a most unusual of merchandising, National Comics Publications (aka Superman/DC) not only published a SGT. BILKO Comic Book; but also spun-off a second title, SGT. BILKO'S PRIVATE DOBERMAN!
policy134
Phil Silvers was a great comedian and by that I mean his characters were for the most part snidely, largely unsympathetic characters who had very little scruples. Here are all those traits wrapped into one person, Sgt. Bilko.Forget the 90's movie version with Steve Martin. The real Bilko is Phil Silvers and to think that this show came out in the 50's is a little astonishing. 50's sitcom were mostly about families and happy families at that. Bilko is not a happy fella even though he tries very hard to be. He is a con man who worries that he will get caught every minute of the day. That was the essence of the show. Bilko comes up with a grand scheme but there are always something that comes up to prevent him getting the thing he wants the most of all: All the money in the world.What makes this show so different from other 50's sitcoms is that Bilko is not a hero and he knows it. He is not self confident and he doesn't seem to have any real friends, just the ass kissers that follow him around all the time to get in on one of his schemes.When you look at sitcoms today, they have been sliding towards the level they had with the bad ones of the 50's. Family shows with a moral. That's too bad but this one is surprisingly fresh even after so many years. Too bad that you can't find an actor who would be able to play the character. Phil Silvers is the one and only Bilko. Bravo!
micnelson
A great testament to the talents of Phil Silvers. With its complex plotlines and quickfire dialogue it's still a treat to watch Silvers's monumental character when you can find it somewhere in the BBC schedules. The most said line in the whole series must be "but, Sarge!" as Bilko launches into another diabolical and, ultimately, flawed scheme to make money and dodge work. And Col Hall's stunned looks, "what is he up to?" are a joy.It must also contain the best adlib in TV history. Bilko has to hide a chimp in camp (don't ask!)and the chimp accidently gets enlisted. To avoid even further embarrassment, the US Army decides to court martial the chimp to get him discharged. Bilko defends him. In the middle of a monologue from Silvers, the chimp, obviously impossible to rehearse, gets off a chair and picks up a nearby phone. After a pause, Silvers says, "he's calling for another lawyer".
